Better patronage for B’lore train during afternoon hrs

Kochi: Ticket booking patterns of the Kochuveli-Bangalore Express seem to support the view of the rail passenger associations that it will have better patronage if started in the afternoon and not during night hours as the railways proposed. The triweekly service used to have a waiting list almost on all days when it was leaving Kochuveli at 4.05pm and reaching Bangalore at 8.35am the next day. However, many seats remained vacant when railways last month introduced a special train on three days a week leaving Kochuveli at 09.20pm, as per the information collected by Thrissur Railway Passengers’ Association general secretary P Krishnakumar. An additional daily train connecting Kerala and Bangalore, where a large number of Keralites work and study, has been a long pending demand. It was announced in this year’s rail budget that the tri-weekly Kochuveli-Bangalore Express would be made a daily service. Its original timing was convenient for the passengers as they needed to spend only the night hours in the train. Similarly, the train was slotted to leave Bangalore at 5.15pm and reach Kochuveli at 09.25am the next day. However, as per the revised train time table that came into force on July 1, the train was slotted to leave Kochuveli at 9.20pm and reach Bangalore at 12.45pm. In the return leg, it was scheduled to leave Bangalore at 2.15pm and reach Kochuveli at 6.05am. Following a series of public protests, the Railways introduced a special tri-weekly train on the route last month on the planned timings. And, despite the heavy demand on the Kerala-Bangalore route, the train had 100 to 493 vacant seats in the sleeper class while the service leaving Kochuveli at 4.05pm had a waiting list of 24 to 205, Krishnakumar said. (T Ramavarman TNN, Times of India dt 4-10-2012)